May 22, 2018 Time is running out for the UPC
With the UK ratification, only Germany is missing to get the Unitary Patent started. The problem is that the German ratification has ended up in their constitutional court and the UK is supposed to leave the EU on March 29, 2019.
As the Preparatory Committee themselves claim they need at least half a year ("6-8 months")to get the UP court ready, it means that time runs out in September this year. Or ealier.

May 5, 2018 We welcome Jelena Bekasova to Direct Validation
With her linguist background and experience from working at an IP based law firm, Ms. Bekasova will add more core knowledge to Direct Validation.
Ms. Bekasova speaks English, Swedish, Latvian and has Russian as mother tongue.

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April 30, 2018 UK ratifies the Unitary Patent
According to a lot of web sites, including the web of the European council, the UK has deposited its instrument of ratification, it happened on 26 April 2018.
The UK became the 16th country to do so, 13 were needed, but the German ratification is necessary and their case is stuck in the Constitutional Court. It is doubtful if a decision from the court is ready before the UK leaves the EU in March 2019.

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February 27, 2018 The end of the Unitary Patent?
The German Constitutional Court will deal with the UPC complaint filed last autumn. Last week the court published a list of cases that it will deal with with in 2018 and the UPC complaint was on the list.
It is believed the process will take at lest half a year but there is no information on about when it will start. On the list are several cases which also where on the list last year. If questions also concern the European court, the process can take up to two years.
The German ratification process has been halted due to the court compliant and as Brexit will happen in March 2019 is seems likely that the Unitary Patent in this form will not happen.

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January 30, 2018 Latvia the newest Unitary Patent country
Latvia has now also joined the Unitary Patent.
On 11 January 2018 Latvia deposited its instrument of ratification and became the 15th member.
The other countries are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden.

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November 2, 2017
Unitary Patent Challenged in German Court
A few months ago, a complaint against Germany participating in the Unitary Patent was filed at a German court and last week court was extending the deadline for observations until the end of December 2017.
It means that a decision on if the case is allowed at the court or not could be expected around mid-2018. If the case it is allowed, a hearing could be expected at the end of 2018.
A guess is that the Unitary Patent then will be delayed until mid-2019.
But, if questions touching the European court is also dealt with, it would probably take 2 years, i.e. end of 2020.
…and by then we have Brexit meaning that the UK cannot be a member of the Unitary Patent.

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July 1, 2017
Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe temporarily stops unitary patent and Unitary Patent Court
The Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe very surprisingly stopped the German ratification of the UPC Agreement by asking the Federal President not to sign the ratification laws that had already been approved by Bundestag and Bundesrat (1). However, the UPC Agreement only comes into force after ratification by Germany (and Great Britain).
The reason for the Federal Constitutional Court’s action is a constitutional complaint (file no. 2 BvR 739/17), which the Federal Constitutional Court obviously considers to be not completely unfounded. Up until now it is not known who lodged this constitutional complaint, on what grounds this complaint was made and when the Federal Constitutional Court will decide in this matter.
A few months will probably pass until a decision will be made.

June 14, 2017
Unitary Patent delayed again
The British elections causes a new delay to the Unitary Patent as both the UK and Germany need to sign.
In the UK, the State Opening of Parliament is due on 19 June 2017 and the summer recess for the Lords and Commons starts on 21 July 2017. There is therefore quite a small window for the UK to try and pick up and complete its ratification of the UPC Agreement.

The UK is not the only potential source of delay for the UPC though as Germany might be wanting to get in on the act as well! Yesterday, the German Constitutional Court asked the German president to hold on from signing German UPC legislation.

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January 31, 2017
Direct Validation continues to grow
Direct Validation welcomes Ms. Binu Alias! Binu has a law degree from the University of Mangalore, India and gives Direct Validation an even stronger, international profile..
Welcome Binu!

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August 30, 2016
Direct Validation continues to grow
Direct Validation welcomes Ms. Fanny Lundström! With her law degree from the University of Linköping she will be a strong asset in our continuous growth in direct validations.

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February 26, 2016
Positive UPS news
Today the UPC Preparatory Committee aired the outcome of its last meeting.Here are the best bits:
• Removal of the opt-out fee (even if one still has to opt-out or in) as "if there is no fee to be paid there is no additional cost to the Court associated with the opt-out process"

• A discount of 40% for SME and micro enterprises.

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December 3, 2015

UNITARY PATENT STILL 30% MORE EXPENSIVE

Even with the suggested “True Four” annuities, the Unitary Patent will be 30% more expensive.

Assuming that:
• Protection is wanted in the top 5 validation states DE FR GB IT ES
• Italy joins the Unitary Patent
• The EP application is granted after 4 years and kept alive for 10 years in the UK, Germany & France but dropped after 5 years in Italy and Spain.
• The Unitary Patent renewal fee will be equal to renewal fees in the top 4 “Unitary Patent validation states”. (DE FR GB NL)
• 50% of the granted EPs are opted-out of the Unitary Patent Court at a cost of € 80.
• The cost for the mandatory full text translation will be € 950 (25 p. à 250 words à € 0.15 + drawings.)
• The “Grant fee” within the Unitary Patent system will be zero. It has not been discussed for a while.

November 1, 2015
3 new states in the EPO world
EPO has signed cooperation agreements with three new states. The agreement goes under the name Validation states.
For EP filings done from March 1, 2015 it is possible to also choose Morocco
The corresponding date for the Rep. of Moldova is Nov 1, 2015
With Tunisia an agreement is signed but no starting date it yet set.

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March 31, 2015
New rules in Denmark
From April 1 2015 (no joke!) the validation work and the corresponding fee payment in Denmark becomes easier. As long the EP is in English it will be enough just to file the patent claims in Danish, not the rest of the text also as it is today. The validation fee will be a flat fee of DKK 2000 (about 270 Euro), no matter the EP language or how long the text is.
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Jan.16, 2015 New validation fee in Norway
As of today the official fee in Norway at EP validations becomes a fixed fee of NOK 5500 (about 625 Euro), no matter the number of pages in the translation. It is a big step forward as the fee earlier could freak-out at long texts.
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December 10, 2014 Malta Ratifies the UPC Agreement
As of 9 December 2014 Malta is the 6th state to ratify. To start the Unitary Patent a minimum of 13 states is necessary (UK, FR, DE plus 10 others).
As Malta now has ratified another aspect of the UPC occurs: All EP application filed before 1 March 2007 are automatically disqualified as Unitary Patents. This is due to that Malta became an EPO member on that day and all EP application up for Unitary Patent must have all the UPC member states designated (designation is done at the application date).
This problem is usually called the “Malta Problem”. Soon, we might also experience the “Croatia Problem” as the same will happen if and when Croatia ratifies the UPC agreement, the difference being that Croatia became a member on 1 January 2008 disqualifying all EP application before the same date.
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Nov.7, 2014 Norway accedes the London Agreement on Jan. 1 2015.
For European Patents in English, a translation of the claims into Norwegian will be enough.
It is also suggested that it will be possible to apply for and prosecute a Norwegian patent application in English.
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October 9, 2014
Our colleague Cecilija Rihtnesberg has once again won recognition as an inventor. This time it is the Swedish Inventor Organisation (Svenska Uppfinnareföreningen) that has awarded Cecilija as one out of 25 Inventor personalities. Congratulations, Ceciija!
More info at: http://uppfinnare.se/medlem/uppfinnarprofiler/cecilija-simic-rihtnesberg
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April 7, 2014
As of April 1, EPO has changed a lot of its fees. Do remember that even if a fee is communicated in writing before April 1, the new fees are the ones to be used if a payment is done from April 1 and on.
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Feb. 11, 2014
Today we welcome Mrs. Kaija Saarimäki to our company. With her strong background in administration and broad knowledge in languages, she will be able to support us in our continuous growth. Mrs. Saarimäki will work as paralegal at Direct Validation.
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Nov. 28, 2013
We are very proud that our colleague Cecilija Rihtnesberg both was one of the nominees for the price "Female Inventor of the Year in Europe" and that she won the Special Recognition Award at the same event. Well done, Cecilija!
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July 6, 2013
Today we welcome Mrs. Cecilija Rihtnesberg to Direct Validation. Cecilija has a strong background from IP and holds herself several patents. She will primarily work as a paralegal at Direct Validation.
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Dec. 15, 2012
Direct Validation has today taken the first step towards the Chinese market by signing a cooperation agreement with Linearis Beijing. Both Linearis Beijing and Direct Validation see this market as having a great potential in both translations of patents and helping Asian companies with EP validations.
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Nov. 1, 2012
Direct Validation welcomes Mr. Stefan Jochheim to the company. Thanks to Mr. Jochheim‘s strong international management background and his long experience from international sales, we are sure he can add much to Direct Validation in his role as responsible for the German speaking markets.
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Sep. 3, 2012 Ireland is from today the latest member of the London Agreement.
As Ireland has an official language (English) in common with an official language of the European Patent Office, Ireland has dispensed with the requirement for the filing of a translation into English of the specification. Earlier, a European Patent which was filed in either French or German, had to be translated in order for that European Patent to be validated in Ireland. The prescribed fee for filing the translation has also been removed.
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July, 2012
Direct Validation welcomes Ms. Silvia Mårtensson. She will strengthen our project leader team with her long experience as paralegal both at patent attorney firms and patent departments in the industry. Her very strong language background will be of great help for many of our customers.
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Nov. 1, 2011 ​​Finland today entered the London Agreement. As other similar members Finland accepts the description and drawings in English while the claims must be translated into Finnish. Under some circumstances, claims in Swedish can be accepted. The above is valid for all EP applications with a publication date of the Decision to Grant from Nov. 1, 2011 and later.
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Sep. 26, 2011
​Direct Validation welcomes Mr. Thomas Marx to the company. Mr. Marx has a long, international marketing career and will be responsible for international market development.
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Sep. 14, 2011​
Today’s agreement between Direct Validation and a well reputed supplier of IPR Renewal Management firm means that Direct Validation also can help all its clients with payments of annuities.
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May 4, 2011
​Direct Validation welcomes Ms. Maria Lagergren. Ms. Lagergren has a long IP experience from The Svea Court of Appeal as well as from several, Swedish IP firms.
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Jan. 13, 2011​
As from today Direct Validation can act directly against the Belgium Patent Office in EP validations matters. As a customer to Direct Validation it means lower cost when validating in Belgium as the extra cost of a local, Belgium patent attorney is avoided.
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May 1, 2010​
Albania is from today the latest member of the EPO.
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Apr. 16, 2010​
Irish Patent Office has accredited Direct Validation as Irish Patent Attorney. The advantage for our non-EU customers is that the cost of an extra local attorney is not necessary any more for validations in Ireland.
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Aug. 3, 2009​
Direct Validation now covers all of the 35 EPC states with our own resources. For our customers it means that they only can use Direct Validation as their single EP validation provider.
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